During the summertime, parents will leave the chore of mowing the lawn to their kids. It is often assigned during the week when the parents are at work. Whether you are away or monitoring your child while they are cutting the grass, it is not uncommon for mistakes to occur. In the case of lawn mowers, these mistakes can often cause mild to severe injury.

A Case Study

The American Journal of Emergency Medicine recently released an eye-opening report on lawn mower-related injuries with children under the age of 18. The retrospective report was based on medical statistics occurring between 1990 and 2014. According to the data, 212,258 children under the age of 18 received emergency care for accidents that happened as a result of using a gas-powered or electric-powered lawn mower.

Defining the Injuries

The report went on to categorize the type of injuries sustained. Children were hurt by a mower in the following ways (by percentage):

• Laceration (38.5%). In most cases, children were injured when their finger or hand were either cut or struck by the mower’s blade
• Burns (14.1%). Children came into contact with a part of the mower that was extremely hot. Some examples include contact with the exhaust, the motor, the blade or the gas/oil intake
• Flying Object (49.8%).  Of all the injuries that occurred, the most common was the impact from an item that flew behind or from the side of the lawn mowers

Note: A high rate of those injured were passengers or bystanders and not the operator of the machine.

Conclusion

The study concludes that although the rate of injury has decreased over the last 20 years, children under the age of 18 are still at high risk of severe injury every time they operate a lawn mower. Thus, parents need to prevent children from operating any type of grass cutting machine even if they are able to monitor their child’s activity.

Solution: Hire a Professional Mowing Company

Although the injury rate has decreased somewhat over the last two decades, your child still risks injury while operating a lawnmower. A safer option is to hire a professional landscaping company that can do the work for you.  A lawn specialist has the training, equipment and the skill necessary to mow your property safely.

At Meyers Green Services, we are dedicated to providing high-quality premier landscaping service that is performed by certified lawn experts. We practice safe methods and can help you with innovative lawn design to suit your yard to your exact specifications. Call us today at 614-210-1126 to schedule your consultation.